Commenting on the massive rally on the Macedonian issue in Thessaloniki, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop of Athens Ieronymos, noted that only 9 out of the 82 Bishops from Holy Synod the attended Sunday’s rally
“The question is, what do we prefer? The difficult or the easy things?”, he wondered rhetorically, to which he replied: “I prefer the difficult”. The leader of the Church in Greece claimed the Church Bishops had reached a successful decision clarifying that they accepted neither the term Macedonia or any derivatives.
He called for a prudent stance, unity, and sobriety in order to see what course of action should be taken in the matter. “That is what expresses me. I will say nothing else, he concluded.

The Archbishop had called on the faithful to refrain from taking part in rallies after his meeting with Greek PM Alexis Tsipras last week. Meanwhile, speaking to Thema radio 104.6 earlier on Monday, the Metropolitan of Thessaloniki Anthimos, who took part in the rally expressed the view that the Church would have to reconsider its stance on the rallies about Macedonia.